Agriculture

Mriya [MAYA GR, N/R], a Ukrainian agricultural holding, released its plans to expand the holding’s land bank under lease by 35.7% to 190 thsd ha in 2009.

As of December 12, 2008 a total of 1.53 mln mt of sugar has been produced by domestic sugar plants in Ukraine. An overall 12.5 mln mt of sugar beet was processed, which is 22.8% less YoY. Moreover, 83% of all sugar plants that obtained government permission for sugar processing in the 2008/09 marketing year have completed their sugar processing season.

Ukrros, a Ukrainian sugar producer with a 70 thsd ha land bank in lease, held a conference yesterday, where the company released its audited consolidated IFRS financial results for 1H08. Key financials: net revenues increased to USD 75.6 mln, EBIT improved from negative to positive USD 3.5 mln, and net income increased to USD 4.3 (including VAT redemption).

Ukraine faces the possibility of being left with17 mln mt of grain in July 2009.

The shareholders of the Kernel Group [KER PW, N/R] decided to not to pay out dividends for the 2007/08 financial year. This decision was taken at their AGM, which was held on November 17, 2008. The company’s losses for the last periods in amount of USD 5.1 mln, will be transferred to the forthcoming year.

Ukraine has exported about 10 mln mt of grain since July 2008. Moreover, Ukraine exported 2 mln mt of rapeseed over the same period. This data was released by Ukrainian News.

The Kernel Group [KER PW, N/R], a bulk oil and grain trader and one of the leading agricultural producers, released its financial results for the first quarter of the 2008/09marketing year. Key highlights: revenues increased by 4 times to USD 371.3 mln, EBITDA expanded by 3 times to USD 51.2 mln and net income jumped by 2.8 times to USD 23.2 mln.

On November 14, the Astarta holding, a leading agricultural producer, released its consolidated financial results for 3Q08. The company’s revenues increased 30% YoY to USD 107.6 mln, EBITDA expanded 29% YoY to USD 43.8 mln and net income improved 8% YoY to USD 33.6 mln. All of the company’s key sale segments increased: +57% for crops, +28% for sugar, +32% for farm products.

The agricultural holding ‘Mriya’ [MAYA GR, N/R] has expanded its land bank by 14.4% to 140 thsd ha. In particular, 6.5 thsd ha of this is located in the Ternopil Region, 9.5 thsd ha in the Chernovitskiy Region, and 4.2 thsd ha in the Khmelnitskiy Region. The land banks were obtained through lease agreements.

Ukrsugar, the Ukrainian Association of Sugar Producers, appealed to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, requesting a temporary ban on the import of Belarusian sugar from the Free Trade Agreement.